I’ve recently had to move machine whilst Microsoft figure out how the last Windows update has crippled my computer causing it to run slow and lockup/reset every 100 minutes (very annoying). The up-shot of this is that I am now working on a Windows Vista computer instead of my souped up XP configuration and as a result I am no longer able to access my standard suite of cross browser testing apps that are XP only.
I’ve tried to use online services but theyre slow and not very interactive however I recently came across a free solution that comes direct from Microsoft.
By using Microsofts free Virtual PC application you can quickly and easily run virtual machines preconfigured to combine versions of Internet Explorer and various operating systems. So with little effort, I am able to run a virtualised Windows XP with IE6 and IE7 preinstalled.
It works brilliantly.
One thing to note is that the virtual machines are time limited meaning that every so often you will have to download a new version.
IMO using virtual machines is rather inconvenient, especially taking into account that there are better alternatives. Did you try BrowserSeal – http://browserseal.com